Rambling Renovators: January 2009

Day 1: Making Room for Baby

Finally - finally! - we are starting on the nursery/guest bedroom this weekend. And not a moment too soon (clock is ticking 75 days and counting!). Today, my brother and dad helped HandyMan clear out the room and here's where we were at 11am.

I know, not much to look at. It was a flurry of bookcases, bed linens, file cabinets, papers, shoes, clothes, rugs, dressers, baseboards, and dust bunnies (!) coming out of the room this morning.

By the end of the day, HandyMan had patched the hole in the floor (we had used some floorboards for the living room), patched the walls, and sprayfoamed some creepy crevices. If HandyMan can finish off some "work" work he has to do, we may get to painting the walls tomorrow (and by we I mean HandyMan because baby + paint fumes don't mix ;) )

Time For A Bath

And so we wait. Progress on the bathroom has stalled. The basketweave tile will take another three weeks to come it (its on the slow boat from Italy!), the glass guys just came in to measure and will be another two weeks to install, the door hasn't arrived yet, and my seamstress is away on vacation so the window curtain will have to wait. But I couldn't wait to use the bathroom so for the meantime, I've put up some film on the window temporarily for a bit of privacy. With the baby belly growing by leaps and bounds these days, I am looking forward to enjoying my first soak in the new tub!

Picture This

With the light at the end of the tunnel now visible, I’ve started to think about the final touches for the bathroom. Like what art to put on the walls. I’ve always loved art in a bathroom. It can bring liveliness and warmth to a sometimes clinical space. Seeing as I love taking photographs but have very few displayed in our house (that’s what happens when most rooms are still in some state of ‘renovation’, lol), I thought I’d put a few in the bathroom. But what mood to convey?

Fresh and colourful?

A far-flung escape?

Architectural and graphic?

Or Textural and Moody?

Which do you like best? What art do you have in your bathrooms?

Sneak Peek

A few pics of progress in the bathroom. We're still waiting on a few pieces - glass for the shower, the basketweave tile, and the frosted door. So this is all you're gonna get until the final reveal - hopefully in about two weeks!

Me

Objects on screen are not as big as they appear ;) 91 days and counting...

Talking Dollars and Sense

A few weeks ago, I was interviewed by a national newspaper (more details on that when the article comes out in February). The writer was looking at how the economy has impacted spending on renovations. Turns out HandyMan and I seem to be prudent and a bit of an anomaly. When we bought our house last July, we set aside a hefty renovation budget. We chose to make a smaller down payment and take on a bigger mortgage… in exchange, we’d be able to pay for most of our renovations in cash instead of taking out a loan to pay for them. We knew we’d be making changes right away and spending that cash in the short term so taking on a longer term loan + interest didn’t seem wise. Most other folks, it seems, take on loans or borrow against their equity to make renovations. With the slowing down of the market though, the question was whether a loan (interest rates are still relatively low) was still the financing source of choice for renovations?

I’m not sure what my neighbours are doing, but HandyMan and I will continue along our conservative track. By spending only what we have, and spending it slowly (we’re doing a room by room renovation), we’ve discovered a few benefits:

We are able to save and contribute to the budget at the same time as we spend it
We can earn some interest on what’s left in the budget
We are better able to prioritize what we want to spend our money on and don’t feel the pressure to “do everything at once”
We can take the time to find good deals

As the economy continues to worsen, there’s even more reason to keep to our plan. Losing our jobs is a small but growing concern so sticking to a cash budget minimizes our risk of not being able to pay down any outstanding debts. The housing market in Toronto has also slowed considerably… while houses in my neighbourhood still sell relatively quickly it is not the same as even six months ago with multiple bids and prices way above asking. One house on my street (exact same model) sold for 32% more than the price we paid 10 months earlier! I wonder if those folks are regretting their purchase now that prices have fallen back down to earth.

I’m guessing there are many others out there who have had to reconsider their renovation plans. Has the current economic situation affected you? Are you holding back on spending or not? Or do you consider your home a long-term investment and choose to spend now and reap rewards later?

Let The Sun Shine In

Here's where we started:

And here's where we're at:

Grouting and fixtures to follow!

Blog Party: Before & Afters

Rhoda over at Southern Hospitality is hosting a blog party. This one is all about your best Before & Afters of 2008, and if you know me, I love me a good Before & After! Here's my Top 4:

1. The Kitchen. First up is the biggest project we undertook in 2008. Yes, I know you're probably tired of looking at all the kitchen pictures, but indulge me one more time :) We took the galley kitchen from a drab and dreary 1950's space to a swanky and sparkly bistro look.

Before:

And After:

You can see more pics of the renovation here, here, and here.

2. The Dining Room. So technically, we started on this room in November 2007, but we didn't finish it off, curtains and all, until April 2008 so I'm going to count it ;) In this room, we broke out the new power tools and made the wainscotting as our first DIY project in the house. We got wallpaper and shutters installed to bring the room to life.

Before (with the previous owner's furnishings):

And After:

3. The Deck. This one is still a "work in progress". We built the banquettes this summer and got some cushions made. Hopefully, this summer we'll finish off the space by painting all the woodwork in white, adding railing details, a 'haint' blue ceiling, some drop pendant lights, and breezy gauzy curtains.

Before:

And After:

4. The Office. This room was Boring with a capital B! No architectural features, an off-center window to contend with, and no storage space. A trip to Ikea took care of that. Here's what we came up with.

Before:

And After:

To see the transformation of these rooms, and other spaces in our house, just click on the Label Cloud on the left. I'm off now to go check out all the other bloggers at the party. There is so much inspiration out there!!

Add It To The List

Dear HandyMan,

When you're finished with the 132 items on your To Do list, can you build me one of these? Baby HandyLuster really wants it.

:o*

Tired of Tile

Progress on the tiling of the bathroom is a little slow-going. Not for lack of effort, but its a big job for HandyMan to do alone. He has had to do all the tiling, cutting, and trim work around the window and door all by himself, without his trusty sidekick Wanderluster helping out. Add the fact that he has to do all the cutting in the garage in the dead of winter (measure tile, go down stairs, put shoes on, cut tile outside, take shoes off, go up stairs, install tile, repeat process 100 times!) - its a wonder he hasn't got frostbite yet :o\

But the room is looking awesome. We've a few minor issues with walls and floors not being level requiring us to rejig the layout pattern. Hopefully all the tiling will be done though this week and we can at least get the toilet back in. I can't tell you how happy that makes Mama and Baby HandyLuster :)